


Clipped Wings

by TheColorBlue



Category: ACCA13区監察課 | ACCA 13-ku Kansatsuka
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 14:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10310285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheColorBlue/pseuds/TheColorBlue
Summary: A what-if scene between episodes 9 & 10. In which Jean has the opportunity to actually emotionally confront Nino about the revelations of episode 8 and this whole royalty business.





	

After dinner out in glitzy Yakkara, Jean comes back to his hotel room to find Nino curled up on the floor. He comes over quickly to take a pulse, and that’s when Nino stirs. Jean narrowly avoids getting punched in the face. It’s probably pure luck. 

“Nino,” Jean says, and Nino stops. 

Then Jean says, “I thought that you’d be better at hiding than this.” 

Jean can see that Nino is smiling at the carpet. “Ah. I’ve had six hours of sleep in the last two days. You’re a hard man to follow, Jean. And, you’ve had company.”

There’s blood on Nino’s shirt.

Jean opens his mouth, but Nino says, “It’s not mine. You should see the other person.” 

Nino stands up, swaying slightly. 

He’s drifted away from Jean. 

The space between them. 

“You didn’t kill someone, did you?” Jean asks.

Nino says, “No. Maybe I should have. But it’d be worse trouble for me in the end if they knew you really do have a bodyguard. Better if they think it’s just—their own incompetence—”

Jean says, “Lie down, Nino.” 

“I can’t do that, Your Highness.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Yeah? Well I thought I’d told you that you have no claim to the throne. You’ve been wiped from the registry. What the hell are you doing, Jean?”

Jean shrugs. He pulls out his cigarette case, flipping it open. He looks at the cigarettes, before pulling one out.

He says, “I didn’t have a choice.”

“Don’t fuck around with me,” Nino snaps. Then, “And when this is all over, I’ll make sure you can never get your hands on another cigarette again, so help me God.”

“Why are you so angry?” Jean asks. He lights his cigarette. “You’re the one who left.”

“And you let me. And don’t fucking tell me that you don’t have a choice—”

“So how much choice does an eight-year-old being threatened with losing his father have?” Jean asks. He takes a drag from his cigarette. He’s looking right at Nino. “You know. I’ve been thinking about the story you told me. I was so disappointed. And angry. But I didn’t know at what. I’ve been thinking a lot about it.”

Nino smiles back like a knife. “Don’t pretend like you know anything about that. Of course I made my own choice, and I’m making my own choice now, and I’m ten years your senior—”

“An eight-year-old doesn’t have a choice when something like that happens,” Jean says softly. He’s holding his cigarette. “I know I’m slow on the uptake, but I know when I’m angry, and I’ve been angry about this. I’ve been furious. You kept telling that story like it was some kind of fairy tale, where I was the long lost prince and you were the loyal protector, but it’s not like that, is it Nino? It’s only like that because you’re telling it like that.” 

“I won’t stop following you,” Nino said. Something in his voice gone weird. All ragged. “As long as your grandfather is alive, I swore I’d—”

“And when I’m king of Dowa, I swear, I’m not going to let you make your life about me. Like this. You’re not going to watch over me like this, Nino.” 

There’s an expression on Nino’s face that Jean’s never seen before. 

Shattered. 

Nino asks, “You want me to leave.”

Jean smiles. “I don’t want to keep around a crow with clipped wings. That doesn’t seem right, does it?”

Jean sits down on the edge of the hotel bed, facing away from Nino, and smokes his cigarette. His hand is shaking. He doesn’t know why his hand is shaking. 

He’s waiting for Nino to leave. 

Jean never cries. He’s pretty heartless like that, he knows. He just, smokes. He smokes until there’s nothing left to smoke of it, down to the stub. 

How does the story go.

The princess tells her aide to leave and be free.

But he never does. 

He’s never free. 

It’s a surprise to Jean when he begins to cry. He has to hold his cigarette and cover his mouth with his other hand to quiet the sound. 

Nino hadn’t told Jean about the death of his father.

Nino hadn’t told him anything, until he’d been forced to. 

Nino.

Idiot Nino. 

There’s a soft noise.

Movement beside him. 

Has Nino really never left?

“My prince,” Nino says, soft against Jean’s ear. “I’m a crow that loves my golden cage. You’ve known me for 15 years. You know me. You know that I love—”

And then quiet. 

A sigh.

A soft sound.

Jean doesn’t get up. 

And Nino is gone.


End file.
